LONDON MARKETS: Unilever Helps Lift FTSE 100, With ECB's Draghi In Focus
20 Luglio 2017 - 03:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Retail sales rise; pound falls; EasyJet shares in the red
U.K. stocks bounced higher Thursday, with Ben & Jerry's ice
cream maker Unilever PLC gaining after its earnings report, one of
a stream of financial releases.
Stocks remained higher after the release of a report on British
retail sales, and after the European Central Bank said it will hold
its key interest rates steady.
The ECB also said it will keep buying 60 billion euros of
government bonds and other assets
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-stays-committed-to-qe-through-december-2017-07-20)
each month through December, "or beyond, if necessary." Attention
will now swing to ECB President Mario Draghi, who is holding a
press conference that started at 1:30 p.m. London time, or 8:30
a.m. Eastern Time.
Check out MarketWatch's live blog of Draghi's press conference
(http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2017/07/20/ecb-live-blog-mario-draghi-walks-the-policy-tightrope/)
The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.8% to 7,491.08. All sectors
advanced, led by the oil and gas group. There, BP PLC (BP.LN) rose
1.6% after a Wall Street Journal report that the oil producer has
approached potential buyers of its oil-and-gas production assets in
the North Sea
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-approaches-possible-buyers-of-north-sea-assets-2017-07-20).
A win for the FTSE 100 on Thursday would be the blue-chip
market's second in a row after it advanced 0.6% on Wednesday.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-slips-as-miners-sag-but-deal-lifts-reckitt-benckiser-shares-2017-07-19)
Earnings season: More corporate results were issued Thursday.
Unilever shares (ULVR.LN) picked up 1.3% after the maker of Lipton
tea and Alberto Balsam hair care products said first-half net
profit rose to 3.11 billion euros ($3.58 billion) and that margins
should be better than previously expected over the full year.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/unilever-posts-profit-gain-lifts-margin-guidance-2017-07-20)
But shares of EasyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) were dragged down 6.2% even
as the budget airline said unit revenue turned positive
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/easyjet-quarterly-unit-revenue-turns-positive-2017-07-20)
in the third quarter after a period of sharp declines.
"Despite an improvement in [the third quarter], the group still
expects revenue per seat to decline by 2% across the second half as
a whole, and that suggests that the key summer period has been
seeing some significant discounting," wrote Laith Khalaf, senior
analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) shares pared their gain to 0.1%. The
miner raised this year's production guidance for its Kumba Iron Ore
business in South Africa, and posted an 8% increase in copper
equivalent production
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/anglo-american-ups-kumba-iron-ore-output-guidance-2017-07-20)
in the second quarter.
Off the main benchmark, shares of Sports Direct International
PLC (SPD.LN) rallied 12.8%, pushing past the sports-equipment
retailer's report that a slide in the pound drove down fiscal 2017
pretax profit.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sports-direct-profit-hit-by-brexit-battered-pound-2017-07-20)
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sports-direct-profit-hit-by-brexit-battered-pound-2017-07-20)Moneysupermarket.com
Group PLC shares (MONY.LN) tumbled 5.2% as the price comparison
website warned adjusted operating profit will be at the lower end
of market consensus for the full year.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/moneysupermarketcom-warns-on-yearly-profit-2017-07-20)
Sterling and ECB: The pound bounced around during Thursday's
session, coming off session lows after data showed U.K. retail
sales rose 2.9% in June year-over-year,
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-retail-sales-rebounded-in-second-quarter-2017-07-20-44855431)
above a FactSet estimate of 2.6%. Sales rose by 1.5% for the second
quarter.
But the pound once again starting losing ground and traded at
$1.2948, compared with an intraday high of $1.3033 and with late
Wednesday's settlement of $1.3025.
The FTSE 100 pushed higher as sterling fell. A stronger pound
can put pressure on shares of export-focused multinational
companies that pull in revenue from overseas.
Check out:Why there is a 'massive' opportunity in British
leisure stocks
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-there-is-a-massive-opportunity-in-british-leisure-stocks-2017-07-19)
Meanwhile, the pound fell against the euro, buying EUR1.1267
before Draghi began speaking about monetary policy, compared with
EUR1.1311 on Wednesday.
Traders "are looking for clues regarding what comes next," for
the central bank's bond-buying program, said Craig Erlam, Oanda's
senior market analyst, in an early Thursday note.
"An announcement on this is unlikely until September when it
releases its new macro-economic projections but Mario Draghi may
offer some insight into what we can expect during the press
conference," he said.
Investors have used proceeds from sales in bonds to the ECB to
buy other assets, including U.K. equities.
Read:Why Mario Draghi can't back down from ECB taper hints
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-mario-draghi-cant-back-down-from-ecb-taper-hints-2017-07-19)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 20, 2017 08:46 ET (12:46 GMT)
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